VA - Three on the Tree 7'' (1994, C/Z)

A follow up to the label's choice 4 on the Floor 7" compilation from a year prior, C/Z Records threw another numerically named micro-comp onto the fire with 1994's Three on the Tree.  The biggest draw here was an exclusive cut from Engine Kid, purveyors of dynamic, Slint-indebted noise rock whose "Thigh With a Desolate Thorn" pushes the quiet/loud/quiet envelope to it's breaking point.  Vexed were mainstays on the C/Z roster, and one of the only combos that I didn't explore more thoroughly during their tenure.  "P6" is two-and-a-half minutes of gritty grunge-ola with the sort of roiling, punky underbite exuded by labelmate's Coffin Break.  Meanwhile, Wreck's "Your Monkey's On Fire" is Three's... most valuable asset, with it's bendy guitar fills winning me over from moment one.

A1. Wreck - Your Monkey's on Fire

A2. Vexed - P6

B. Engine Kid - Thigh With a Desolate Thorn

Hear